All Forum Posts by: Ryan Pyle

Hi Jim, what are your goals for investing in real estate? Are you looking to preserve your capital? Are you looking for a slightly better return that stocks? Are you wanting to build a real estate business? Are you looking for giant returns like what you can get flipping? Also, how much work do you want to put into it? 

There are a ton of directions you can go with that much cash in Toledo. It really depends on your goals, your skills and your time. 

Welcome Michael Maier! I've been investing full time in Toledo for about 10 years now. Feel free to call me anytime with questions.

Ryan Pyle

Even in Ohio, you get what you pay for. If a property is under $25k that usually means it's in an undesirable neighborhood. Yes, you can buy houses in Toledo all day long right off the MLS (because all of the local investors have passed on them) for $5k, $10k, $20k...pick your number. And yes, they will rent for $600/mo. But you will need to adjust your NOI downward along with the price to reflect higher vacancy, higher repair costs while the tenants are living in the house (because they live hard and don't have any extra money to pay for the things they break so you end up footing the bill or kicking them out), higher turnover costs due to the previously mentioned lifestyles, and certain vandalism that will occur which includes, but is not limited to, stripped pipes, stolen hvac, stolen hot water tank, stolen wires, stolen kitchen sink, etc. @Nathan Astrup is very correct when he says you should plan on paying more like $40k. Yes you will still only rent for $600, but I guarantee your NOI will be much higher. 

Definitely high demand in Toledo, but like market rate rentals the demand for Section 8 ebbs and flows with the quality of the neighborhood. Even Section 8 tenants don't want to live in war zones.

I own 40 houses and 139 apartments. I bought all of the houses from 2005 - 2008. I fixed and flipped from 2008 - 2010. Then in 2010 a lot of distressed apartment deals started popping up in Toledo. I got a call from a friend of mine who had a lead on a 15 unit near the University of Toledo that was in receivorship. It was half full, and of those only a couple were paying. But the building was all brick and the windows, roof and boilers were only 5 years old. So the only rehab that needed to be done was vacant unit turns. We knew the bankers that had the loan and called them up. They agreed to sell us the building for $160k and lend us $30k for rehab, so we were in for no money down with bank financing. We closed the purchase in September 2010 and had it to full occupancy by February 2011. At the time it was grossing about $6,700/mo. NOI was about half that. Rents have gone up since then. That deal got me hooked on apartments. I've found several other similar deals around Toledo since then.

Hi Gary, I've done very well with Section 8 in Toledo in both single family and multi-family. I would highly recommend reading the Section 8 Bible if you haven't already. I don't use all of their methods, but their tactics are very useful in terms of how to tenant-proof a house for low-income and Section 8. 

The Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority (www.lucasmha.org) is our local housing authority. They are great to work with as long as you aren't a slumlord. They can get picky with inspections, especially when you are new and they are still sizing you up, but once they know you are a good landlord they are very reasonable. The key is to show up (or have your maintenance man show up) for every inspection and show that it is important to you and that you find their repair recommendations very insightful and helpful. :)   

Question: what do you mean by "multi-units can cause accountability problems"? 

@Brandon McCraney , @Engelo Rumora is correct that 43613 is good. If you have something for $10k in that area you probably got a good deal...actually an amazing deal! But be careful as a lot of stuff in that area requires flood insurance.

I second @Sam B. . There are no good PM's in Toledo that work that market. Most won't touch it; those that will are about as high quality as the tenants you will get in those areas. I own several properties in inner-city Toledo. I manage them myself and I hustle those properties. When they go vacant they get broken into just about every time. A typical vacancy will cost over $5,000 in repairs, vandalism, advertising, heavy tenant screening, lost rent, etc. There is a reason a property is only $10k, even in Toledo.

@Account Closed, yes. I've bought a couple more buildings this year. I've got a 36 unit under contract as well that's not included in that number. Every time I think all the good deals are gone, more seem to pop up. Let's get together again soon. I hope all is well with you.

@Lisa Doud thank you so much for your detailed reply! What you've said is exactly what they told me. I'm glad to hear that they deal with uploading my data once I have it in the proper format. I was worried about screwing that up.